The making this week included a wee bit of sewing… one more flannel Esme Tunic, although with the weather we’ve been having a flannel tunic seems rather silly! However, it is my “go to wear” these days and having one more in the rotation is a good thing. I did a bit of a different sleeve finish (a modification of a modification?) with this one and I like it! I have plans to make a denim tunic with these sleeves as well – I figure that will carry me through spring and into the start of summer!


The reading this week was incredible with two 5-star books. I cannot stop thinking about The Living Fire or A Long Petal of the Sea. I almost want to stay in the place that each book brought me and not leave for awhile.

The Living FireThe Living Fire by Edward Hirsch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First, I never, ever imagined that insomnia could be brilliant. Hirsch had taken a misery and made it genius. This collection of poems was brought to my attention one morning while listening to The Writer’s Almanac. That tiny preview, while brilliant, did not even begin to hint at the poems I found in The Living Fire. A few of my favorites: Incandescence at Dusk, Four A.M., The Reader, Earthly Light, I am Going to Start Living Like a Mystic, The Widening Sky, and After a Long Insomniac Night.

This is a book I need to add to my library so I can return to these words again and again. I highly recommend!

A Long Petal of the SeaA Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My life has been a series of journeys. I’ve traveled from one side of the world to the other. I’ve been a foreigner without realizing I had deep roots…My spirit has sailed as well. [the] most important events, the ones that determine our fate, are almost always completely beyond our control. But do you know what I’m most grateful for? Love. That has marked me more than anything else.

This book grabbed me from the very first pages as Victor was treating the wounded in the Spanish Civil War. The lives of Victor and Roser took me on an emotional journey – one that was at times painful to read. I could not put this book down and I loved that each chapter started with the words of Pablo Neruda. I knew nothing at all of Neruda’s work to save thousands of refugees. I highly recommend this incredible story!

Words in Deep BlueWords in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

We are the books we read and the things we love. Cal is the ocean and the letters he left. Our ghosts hide in the things we leave behind.

I really wanted to love this story, but it fell flat for me, perhaps because of the genre. However, the writing is poignant and if this book inspires YA to read some of the books quoted within the pages – that would be a very good thing.

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